As someone who’s worked on countless construction sites I can vouch that construction workers, over all, like to smoke more than your typical person. I’m not saying that all construction workers smoke but it’s quite evident that you’re much more likely to find a smoker working in trades than you are to find one working in other fields of work like doctoring, nursing, police work, et cetera.

I managed to quit smoking many years ago while I was working full time with smokers. Now my friend is wondering how I did it and I thought maybe there’s others on the internet who could use some advice as well. So now let us begin!

How do you quit smoking when you work with a crew of smokers, and you always see them smoking everyday?

The answer is different for everyone, as some people have developed their willpower more than others, but there are still three universal tips that I believe could help anyone!

Tip 1: Be honest with your co-workers and let them know you’re trying to quit smoking cigarettes. If they’re unaware of your struggle, they may try to offer you a smoke or smoke in front of you more often. Now this tip may not work in every situation because some co-workers can be pretty immature and they won’t take you seriously. They may say something like “No one likes a quitter” or something worse like “You’ll never succeed!”

If you find that your co-workers aren’t willing to make things any easier for you then maybe talk to your boss and suggest working different shifts, suggest working with a different crew or maybe even take some vacation time away from work to get by those first few weeks of cravings out of the way. Once you come back to work after taking a break you’ll hopefully find that you have no desire to smoke because you already sacrificed so much to get this far.

Tip 2: Bring extra light snacks in your lunch bag to munch on whenever you get a craving, and, if you’re a coffee drinker, consider changing your beverage of choice to lessen further cravings. When I was struggling with cravings at work, watching and smelling people smoke right beside me, I would pull out a small bag of peanuts and munch on them until my craving went away, and I took a break from coffee because, you know, smokes and coffee go together like bread and butter. I found myself drinking organic teas and I ended up feeling a lot better about myself overall. Today I still don’t drink coffee that much for the same reason. I find that I already have all the energy I need because I’m no longer smoking.

For other ideas of snacks you can bring to work to settle your smoking cravings, consider pepperoni sticks, five-cent candies, dried fruit, chips, crackers, bananas, granola bars, anything to keep your lips and fingers busy until the craving goes away!

Tip 3: Start a journal or a daily planner and write down all the reasons why you want to quit smoking. While doing this you may surprise yourself because, no matter what, there are always way more reasons someone should quit than reasons why they should continue smoking. I managed to come up with nearly one hundred reasons, one of them being I get my taste buds back. Ah yes, I get to enjoy the full flavor of pizza now! Another one of my reasons was to smell better in public; I no longer get weird glances from strangers who smell something they don’t like. And perhaps the most convincing reason for me was health! Ever since I quit smoking I’ve been getting sick less often, my teeth have gotten whiter and even my skin and hair look younger!

The reason why you want to write this down in a journal or daily planner is because you want to be reminded of these reasons as much as possible. I use my daily planner everyday and so before work I was always reminded of all the reasons why I’m putting myself through these struggles. Now I only get a craving once every few months and this list of reasons is still useful today.

I hope these tips help you!

And who knows? You may find that you become the hero at work and find ways to motivate your co-workers into also quitting cigarettes. Wouldn’t that be awesome! For more tips on staying motivated, we have a whole page dedicated to it. Thanks for visiting and see you next time with more tips and tricks for trades workers!

If you’re anything like me, an aspiring jack-of-all-trades, then you probably have a bunch of old tools lying around that you never use or hope to use one day. Owning any kind of tool is useful and so I don’t blame you for keeping them, nor do I blame myself. In fact, I’ve discovered a very neat and fun way to make your tools useful, even that one you know you’ll never, ever use!

How do I make all my useless tools useful? By presenting them as pieces of art in your living room, kitchen bathroom, bedrooms and hallways!

Tools for me are like cars or dolls for others: I just looove looking at them! Instead of flowers in my vases I have hammers and screw drivers. Above the lintel of my hallway door rests a rusty shovel, shining brilliantly like a medieval coat of arms. On the window sill above the kitchen sink are old single nuts and bolts displayed in an artistic fashion, many of them from the early 20th century and looking like artifacts from a steampunk universe.

How can you tell me these old tools don’t look beautiful? I’d rather have these wrenches displayed on my coffee table than a bowl of candy any day!

Some tools are bigger than others and so you can think of creative ways to present them as art. For example even an old toilet you uninstalled years ago but left around can be painted purple and re-installed on the roof of your shed. Imagine what people would think as they drove by and saw that! I know what I would think: “Whoever did that is one awesome person!”

I often see stuff like that when I’m driving about, and I can’t complain. Some people like to leave old 19th-century farm equipment in their front lawn to give a country aesthetic. Others like to keep rusty old motorcycles on their backyard patio, almost as if it were a rocking horse for the kids to play on.

So why keep your tools hidden away in a tool box? Celebrate your love for being a tool collector and put them somewhere artful, somewhere you can see them everyday. Screw a bead curtain! I’m saving all my old broken tape-measures to make a hanging curtain out of them! Hmm. Or maybe that’s not the best idea . . . .

But hopefully you get the point! Thanks for reading and click here to go back to our homepage. You can look forward to more interesting posts in the future!

As a young man looking for work in the summer between high school years I always found myself finding odd labor jobs and every summer it was something different. Odd labor around various construction sites is what got me into learning about all kinds of construction trades in the first place. And I’m not the only one. This message applies as much to people like me as does to teenagers today who have yet to find their first job.

If you’re looking for a gateway into construction trade then consider entering the field as a laborer and not only will you learn from watching professionals but you’ll find that experience adds up fast and after wile of working as a laborer you’ll find yourself being promoted as your skills develop. Labor is a gateway to better employment.

For an example of how entering the labor force can lead to better employment consider the story of my friend Richard who as a young man got hired as a laborer by a flooring company. Two years of helping these guys haul wood and do as he was told allowed him to learn flooring first hand and after moving to a different city he was able to get hired not as a laborer but a full-time flooring installer.

This blog intends to tell many more of such stories and this post isn’t intended to explain everything. The labor force is a complex topic, and some would even call it an issue. That’s why we’re so happy to help young people enter the labor force. If you want to learn some interesting data about the labor force here’s a great video:

But before you go I want to remind you of 4 motivating benefits of a labor job:

Exercise: There are very few labor jobs that don’t require physical activity. And the muscle you get from working is a lot more natural and long-lasting than the type that body builders get. Just remember to lift things properly, using your knees and not your back. Take care of your limbs and eat a good diet, and you’ll find yourself getting healthier every day as you get paid to exercise.

Money: Construction trades are known to be some of the top-paying jobs around the world, with underwater welders making more than lawyers and plumbers opening franchises across countries. Being a mechanic doesn’t mean you can’t be a business man, too. Construction trades will always be needed in cities, so they’re a great skill too have, and opening your own service company one day is always an option.

Alertness: Working on construction sites can be dangerous as heavy machinery and deadly drops are at every step, and it can be easy to trip or fall off a ladder if you’re not paying attention. Working in such an intense environment requires alertness and like an muscle alertness grows with practice.

Experience: You’ll never know what’s it like to shovel all day in the rain until you do it. Get a good meal and a refreshment afterwards, and look forwards to stronger back muscles and, of course, the brilliant fact of knowing that next time you go to shovel it’ll be a little easier because you just got a wack-load of experience, son. As you work from labor job to labor job, your resume will grow and you’ll find that every time you get employed you always have more to bring to the table.

I hope this post was motivating for you. Look forward to more posts and feel free to learn more about us.